Intro to Knots
Plot End tag While the group plays with the kittens Dean Pelton gave them, Abed wonders what is going on in The Darkest Timeline. Over in that alternate reality, Evil Jeff is in a courtroom pleading for someone's freedom. His client turns out to be Evil Annie, and he manages to convince the judge and jury to drop all charges against her. Once she's freed from her restraints, the two embrace and kiss. He tells her the rest of the study group are preparing to destroy the "Prime timeline". Recurring themes Continuity *'That just happened': Annie mentions she learned the group got a failing grade on their history paper from Quendra who works as an assistant for Professor Cornwallis. Shirley says, "I bet she does", referencing the fact that Cornwallis admitted he had an affair with a coed at Oxford which cost him his tenure. Annie admitted in the previous episode (which was originally meant to air after this one) to letting the professor rub her feet in order to pass a test. *'Replay': **Jeff asks Annie if they need to have another conversation about her "playing house" with him, which is a reference to Annie's pretend marriage with Jeff in the Season Four episode "Conventions of Space and Time" **Jeff discusses his favorite drink, a Macallan (neat), with Professor Cornwallis. He is first shown ordering the drink in the Season Two episode "Critical Film Studies". **When Annie suggests Cornwallis sexually harassed her and Britta, she adds Shirley as well saying, "He was intimidated by her sexually". This is a callback to when Shirley said the exact same thing about Jeff in the Season Two episode "Paradigms of Human Memory". **Britta says "None taken" when Annie incredulously believes she might be up for valedictorian, mimicking Todd's response to the study group whenever they insulted him in the Season Three episode "Competitive Ecology". **When Cornwallis is freed and everyone wonders who did it, Troy asks if they can say it was a ghost again, referring to the Season Two episode "Cooperative Calligraphy" when he came up with a similar excuse for the disappearance of Annie's pens. **One of Abed's gifts is an InSpecTiCon (shown in "Conventions of Space and Time") baseball hat. *'Returning faculty': Professor Cornwallis returns in this episode. *'This must be the place': Jeff's apartment is the setting for the entire episode. *Winger speech: Jeff talk about the reason behind the Study Group's unity. *'Discontinuity': Abed leaves Jeff's door open when he enters. His back is then shown as he addresses the group. The next shot of him shows Jeff's door behind him closed. Running gags * Gasp: When Annie tells the group that she invited Cornwallis to the party and they all complain, she gasps. * Googly eyes: Jeff and Annie give each other the look when Professor Cornwallis mentions "romantic entanglements" within the group. * I'm Batman!: Abed dresses as John Mcclane from "Die Hard" right down to the bare feet. * Man crush: The Dean knocks on Jeff's door and says he knows he's home because he can smell him. He then touches his stomach on the way out of Jeff's condo. * NOOOOOO!: When Cornwallis escapes from the chair and then reappears, the group screams in unison. * Raging against the machine: Britta protests Cornwallis using "feminine" as a pejorative. Pop culture references *'IMDb': Abed makes several references to the 1988 movie "Die Hard" as he hoped to make the holidays more like the film. *'Name that tune': Christmas songs "Jingle Bell Rock" and "O Holy Night" are played towards the episode end. Jeff admits that for his section of the history paper he copied the lyrics to "War (What is it good for?)". *'Shout out': Troy compares Cornwallis to Scrooge McDuck. *'Well read': **Britta read a book on and (surprisingly) correctly pronounces the Peloponnesian War. **Jeff mentions several historical Roman figures to impress Cornwallis including Emperor Octavian and historian Tacitus. **Cornwallis mentions Carthaginian General Hannibal. *'Use your allusion': Annie says "Sha-na-not", a reference to the 1970's band Sha na na. Meta references *'Homage': This episode was intended to be an homage to the 1948 Alfred Hitchcock film "Rope". Writer Andy Bobrow revealed on his Twitter account that he had intended the episode to be shot in long tracking sequences just like the movie, but production argued it wouldn't be feasible in the time frame they were given to shoot it. *'IRL': During the end tag, Dean Pelton arrives and hands out kittens to everyone, two of which are named James and Fiona, which are the names of Danny Pudi's twins. *'Résumé': Professor Cornwallis calls Troy "childish", referencing Donald Glover's stage name Childish Gambino. *'Up against the wall': **Jeff says about the curtains "Actually, these will also work for Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, or whenever people get to see it.". This references the fact that this episode was shot when NBC had moved the premiere date for Season Four of Community to an undisclosed time. **When the group argues amongst themselves after Cornwallis is tied up by Chang, Abed proclaims, "This is amazing and possibly happening in real time!". This is a reference to the fact that the episode was to be shot in real time (see Homage). Trivia * Writer Andy Bobrow posted on his twitter account a few pages from an earlier draft of the script for this episode. These had scenes or extended sequences which included lines originally written for Pierce before Chevy Chase left the show, a sub-plot involving Troy's gift to Britta, and the entire speech made by Evil Jeff in the episode end tag. * This was the first episode in which Pierce doesn't appear. * In the DVD commentary, Alison Brie mentions that the reason Malcolm McDowell wears glasses in the episode is that he'd just had eye surgery. Pierce dialogue: Troy and Abed sub-plot: Evil Jeff's speech: Quotes Category:Community Episodes Category:Season 4 Episodes Category:Darkest Timeline